﻿Traveling through spain﻿

As we arrived into Madrid International Airport, it all felt so surreal to me. For the next 18 days, I was about to be traveling through Europe and Africa, visiting three different countries. Who gets to do that?! I was beyond ready and so excited for the amazing things that had yet to come. I felt pretty jet-lagged because of the 6-hour time difference between Spain and the United States, but that wasn't stopping us. We arrived to Spain in the morning, and after being on a plane for six hours, we started our day with a walking tour to beat the jet lag.

Enough about the travel, and more about the city... Madrid has to be one of my top ten favorite cities I've ever visited (4 of those 10 cities being in Spain). It was filled with history, yet it was up to date with technology, fashion and civilization. The city was very fast-paced like New York City, but had a European charm to it that made it so much more calm and enjoyable. People weren't walking with their faces in their phones or rushing to get places. The side streets from the main roads were made of cobblestone and led you to some of the oldest shops that Spain has. It was a magical feeling, and I couldn't have asked for a better place to start our journey.

The food in Madrid was everything a foodie could have dreamt of. For breakfast, we ate homemade, flaky, warm churros served with a cup of warm and thick chocolate. The thing about it was that it wasn't just hot chocolate. If any of you have ever tried Max Brenner's hot chocolate in NYC, it was like that but 20x better. The Spanish ate 4-6 meals everyday, and started off their day with the sweets.

Something I discovered that I absolutely love while in Madrid was sangria. With every meal, I ordered a glass of red sangria. In the picture above, I am drinking a half-liter of Sangria to myself. I couldn't help but to order that much because it was that delicious. I'd always known what sangria was, and had tried it in the States a few times; but it is nothing compared to how they freshly make it in Spain. If you ever get a chance to visit Spain, I highly recommend ordering Sangria pitchers for everyone.

In the last picture shown above, is the vividly colored buildings just walking down the streets of Madrid. This isn't something you see everyday while walking down the good ole' streets in America. Buildings like this were everywhere in Europe. My eyes were intrigued everywhere we went by the many colors, architectural styles and agriculture that filled the everyday streets in the city.

places to visit in Madrid

Clicking on the link above will take you to the homepage to the historically famous Prado Museum located in the heart of Madrid. It was amazing to walk around the museum and see ancient works of world-famous artists such as Goya and Picasso. I got to see 10 original paintings done by Picasso which was pretty amazing. Even if you are not really into art or museums, it's still an awesome thing to say you have seen and done.

We were supposed to tour the Royal Palace of Madrid, but the day we arrived, the Royal Family from Italy was visiting the King at the palace; (casual, right?) so we could not enter. We viewed the outside of it and the architecture was simply incredible. Soldiers and guards on horses protected the palace and circled around the palace in shifts.

The Plaza Mayor is a square, or the city center of Madrid. It is like the Times Square of Madrid, if you would say. The square goes back to the 1500's and is surrounded by a three-story high residential building that wraps around the city center with 237 balconies overlooking the square. It is an interesting place to visit, to take pictures and to just relax or eat with friends while observing a great part of history.